Abstract:

The thesis is an analysis of the five-part madrigal volumes of Benedetto Pallavicino, maestro di cappella at the Mantuan court 1596-1601, in relation to the compositions of his contemporaries active at Mantua and the nearby court of Ferrara: Wert, Rovigo, Gastoldi, Monteverdi, Marenzio, Luzzaschi, Bertani, Gesualdo and Fontanelli. It traces Pallavicino’s stylistic development throughout his eight five-part madrigal books, and attempts to assess his role in the evolution of the madrigal at Mantua during the last three decades of the sixteenth century. Over 240 musical examples are included in the text. The introductory chapter gives an account of Pallavicino’s life which includes several newly-discovered documents from the Gonzaga archives. The second volume contains a representative selection of his madrigals.